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- Additional Information -
| Etosha
National Park offers some of the best wildlife-viewing opportunities
in africa. Its present size is 22,270 sqm, two third of which are open to the public. The most prominent feature in the park is Etosha Pan itself, a white to greenish coloured saltpan of appr. 4,700 sqm, which formed after a huge inland lake dried up due to tectonic movements around 12 mill. years ago. |
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The
first inhabitants of the area, the Heikum Bushman have their own explanation
of how this vast saline desert formed: A long long time ago, the tribe was raided and all the men were killed; the remaining women have been crying so much that their tears formed a huge lake which’s water evaporated in the burning sun and which is now Etosha Pan! |
| Whatever
story is true now, the salt of the pan was very precious for the surrounding
population and was traded amongst the different groups in the area. In 1854, the first europeans to arrive were Francis Galton and Charles Andersson (one of the entrance gates is named after him), and they were amazed at the abundance of wildlife. The whole region became so popular with european hunters that already 53 years later the german Gouvernor of then German South-West Africa protected an area of 93,000 sqm. |
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The
borders of this early Game Reserve changed a few times since then
and the Park reached its present size in the 1970’s. Two former german forts have been converted into Tourist Restcamps and due to the increasing number of tourist attracted by the amazing wildlife in this unique landscape a third camp was built in between those two forts. |
| All
three camps (Okaukuejo in the west, Halali in the middle and Namutoni
in the east) offer very good facilities for visitors. Each of them
has a swimming pool, a shop, restaurant, petrol station and, one of
the highlights of each visit, a floodlit waterhole offering excellent
game-viewing during the night. In Etosha National Park, 114 mammal species, 340 bird species, 110 different reptiles and 16 different amphibians occur.  |
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